hello B) not much to say up here, except hi and welcome to my humble story. this is my first fanfic (that I plan to leave up anyway) so just keep in mind even if this sucks there's a lot of room to improve, which is exactly what I plan to do. so. don't flame me bc i'll flame u right back tbfh, but do feel free leave constructive reviews and enjoy!
*this starts during episode 3: trust exercises. just heads up.*
disclaimer: don't own tf. do own oc's. that is all.
[Systems: Rebooting...
Processor: Onlining... Online. Fully functional.
Spark casing: Undamaged.
Energon lines: Intact. Fully functional.
Energon levels: 48%. Refuel recommended soon.
Fuel pump: Fully functional.]
Lightfall's processor onlined with the rest of her systems, a soft rumble coming from beneath her plating as her fuel pump worked overtime to increase the flow of energon through her lines and battle the chill in her frame. A shiver clattered her armor and she groaned, reaching out blindly for any sort of clue as to her whereabouts.
[Optics: Onlining... Calibrating... Calibrated.
Audial receptors: Onlining... Online.]
A flood of light blinded Lightfall and the femme quickly dimmed her optics, adjusting to the strange brightness. She blinked a few times, still unsure of her surroundings. Her foggy reflection met her gaze. Where...?
A glance up brought a memory flow to the front of her processor. Oh, right; the cops, the stasis pod. Lightfall muttered to herself, optics searching quickly for a way out of the closed capsule. Obviously the cryo feature had been disabled somehow, so there had to be a break in the pod. If she could find it, she could figure out how to escape from it.
Before the femme could adjust her position in the pod so she could fully assess her predicament, there was a loud hissing noise, and with a groan the top of the pod swung open, allowing Lightfall the escape she was looking for. Just as she was about to pull herself out of her circular prison, however, a warning flashed through her processor.
[Warning: Unfamiliar spark signal detected nearby.]
'Nearby' was the wrong word to use; Lightfall would have suggested 'immediately outside'. As soon as Lightfall cautiously peeked her helm out of the stasis pod, a pointed snout and large gray audial receptors greeted her. All her systems went on high alert, armor tightening against her frame and her electromagnetic field drawing back in caution.
"Hello, sister," the bot purred, slinking closer to her cell. He gave her a clawed servo, an offer to help Lightfall climb out of the pod, and she took it lightly, wary of this new mech. "It's so good to see you awake and well."
"Who... Who are you?" Lightfall asked the unfamiliar mech when both her peds were on the dusty ground. Her processor was pinging with all sorts of data regarding the organic nature of wherever she was, but the femme ignored it all in favor of keeping an eye on the large mech in front of her. He was easily twice her size, nearly a helm or two taller and much, much heavier. Lightfall's slender frame stood no chance should this bot decide to get violent.
"Oh dear," the wolfcon replied smoothly, pressing his servo to his chassis in embarrassment, "where are my manners? I'm Steeljaw. And you are...?"
"Lightfall." She didn't like this mech's smooth talking or the way his EM field kept sweeping out in an almost dominant manner, brushing roughly against hers. Taking a small step back and locking her plating as close to her frame as she could defensively, the femme stared Steeljaw in the optics. She tensed, balancing lightly on her peds. Any sudden movements and she would be racing away before he could even bark. His bulky frame wouldn't be able to keep up with her small, fast one; at least, that's what she was banking on.
"Well, Lightfall, I'm sure you can remember why you woke up in a stasis cell." The wolfcon took a step toward her, erasing any distance Lightfall had just put between them. She cringed, remembering her arrest very well, in fact. "I was caged just like you, until I escaped myself and made it my goal to free all my brothers," Steeljaw paused, grinning at the femme, "and sisters, of course."
"I - The - Where are we? Last I remember, some guard was talking about a prison ship. 'Cybertron's Most Wanted', all that. What is this place?" Lightfall shuffled her ped in the dusty ground, kicking up a cloud of dirt with her movement.
"Oh, sister, the Alchemor crash landed cycles ago." Crash landed? So she'd been stuck in that pod for cycles? "This is Earth." At Lightfall's lost expression, Steeljaw chuckled. "Strange, isn't it? It's actually a very quaint little planet, if you can get past the... organic nature." The large mech shook a clawed ped in disgust, emphasizing his distaste for dirt. "I believe it will be a wonderful refuge for our captive brothers and sisters, once they're freed, of course. Don't you agree?"
Despite Steeljaw's light tone of voice, Lightfall sensed the veiled threat behind his words. She nodded her helm obediently, processor churning, trying to come up with an excuse for her to leave, to get out of there. This mech was able to stand in front of her and claim that he wanted to create a refuge for criminals - the most wanted criminals on Cybertron, no less - on this planet, which, according to the data in her processor, was already inhabited by another species, and frankly Lightfall wanted no part. She'd rather go back to Cybertron and face her punishment again than join forces with this silver-glossaed mech. If the vibes from his EM field were anything to go by, this was a bot not to be trusted.
Fortunately, the femme didn't even have to worry about an excuse; before she could form any more words another bot came crashing through a cluster of flora, looking none too friendly with a scowl on her faceplates and a blaster aimed directly at the two escaped convicts. Great, an enforcer. Steeljaw took a wary step back, claws in the air defensively, and Lightfall mimicked his movements. As much as she didn't trust the mech, he was her best defense should the cop decide to attack.
"Servos in the air, Decepticons!" she demanded, blaster switching from Steeljaw's chassis to Lightfall's. Good, so not only was the femme an Enforcer, but she was ignorant too. Lightfall had no insignia. Maybe she wasn't a goody Autobot, but she was no Decepticon either. A sneer crossed her faceplate.
"Decepticon, my aft," Lightfall countered. "Watch your accusations, cop." She found a blaster trained on her chassis, though not over her spark chamber. Enforcer though she may be, the femme wasn't willing to offline her. Lightfall relaxed internally, a pressure lifted from her spinal strut.
"Doesn't matter, you're a convict. An escaped one. And now, by order of Cybertronian legal code section 305, you get to go back where you came from: a stasis pod."
Lightfall started to spit back a response but Steeljaw held out a placating servo between the femmes, an easy grin sliding onto his faceplate.
"Sister, please, you must be confused. You think we were prisoners on that ship, but we were in fact guards. Lightfall here was my apprentice, if you will."
The Enforcer looked confused, and Lightfall almost wanted to jump behind her and tell her that the charming mech was no good, but she held her glossa.
"Guard? Fixit never said anything about a guard on the Alchemor..."
"Ah, Fixit," Steeljaw chuckled. "Yes, well he wouldn't have known. I - er, we were in stasis also. Our pods were programmed to wake us in the case of a riot."
The Enforcer lowered her blaster. Dumbaft, Lightfall scolded internally. Gullible femme. Stay on guard.
"But... Why would you have a Decepticon logo?"
"Well aren't you very well trained, asking excellent questions." Lightfall noticed Steeljaw's frame tense, and so must have the Enforcer because the blaster went up again as Steeljaw stepped closer with a chuckle. "The logo is meant to confuse the other - " The wolfcon let out a roar and leaped forward on surprisingly nimble peds, swiping at the Enforcer femme.
"Agh!" She reached for her comm unit. "This is Strongarm, I'm under attack!" A swift kick to Steeljaw's chassis was intercepted by the mech, whose hold on her ped gave him the advantage he needed over her. Lightfall, though she wanted to help, hung back, frightened and useless. She stood no chance, with minimal combat training, and it wouldn't take much to bring a lot of harm to her civilian frame; as it was, the two bots' heavy duty frames were taking a beating. She suppressed a particularly sour memory, pushing it to the back of her processor. She didn't need that right now.
The Enforcer, for her part, desperately held her ground against the huge mech, obviously failing to contact whoever was on the other end of her comm link. "My location is - ow!"
Steeljaw slammed Strongarm to the dusty ground, silencing her cry. Hoisting the stunned femme off her peds, the giant mech swung her through the air with ease. She landed against a boulder face, helm connecting harshly with the hard surface. Immediately she was unconscious. Steeljaw looked like he was barely bothered by the fact that he just threw a femme through the air as he turned and made optic contact with Lightfall. She trembled, ready to run. If Strongarm could barely stand this mech, there was no way Lightfall would make it out of a fight without serious injuries.
"You know," Steeljaw purred, stalking closer, "I was thinking about keeping you around for a while, because I like you. But you seem positively mortified now, so I doubt I could make you stay around even if I wanted to." The wolfcon shrugged, nonchalant. "Shame. I guess I'll just have to tie you both up."
Lightfall's optics went wide as Steeljaw advanced on her, but she never got the chance to take off sprinting; as soon as her ped left the ground, Steeljaw's huge servo wrapped around her throat and suddenly Lightfall was on her stabilizer in the dirt, pain receptors flaring from the base of her processor all the way down to her pelvic plating.
[Warning: Jarred processor. Further injury could be serious. Rest recommended.
Warning: Jarred spinal strut. Further injury could be fatal. Medical treatment recommended.]
Hardly conscious through the sudden throbbing in her frame, Lightfall dismissed the warnings, feeling a claw poking around in her neck wiring. Careful not to thrash, lest she risk Steeljaw's claws puncturing an energon line, Lightfall kicked a ped up into his chassis, crying out weakly as it made feeble contact.
"Primus, femme, stop kicking!" he growled. His claw found its target and he pressed down sharply on a cable. Lightfall only had a second to panic, before everything went offline.
oOo
Onlining on the ground in a strange location while tied up in chains was not on Lightfall's list of favorite things to do. Especially not with an aching processor and pains still shooting through her spinal strut. Whatever that brute of a mech had done to her, it needed medical attention soon, lest it get worse. Strongarm was already stirring, her larger frame pressed against Lightfall's side heavily, though as she came online her unconscious weight was removed bit by bit, relieving some of the pain in Lightfall's stabilizer.
"Ugh, Primus..." she groaned, and Lightfall brushed a servo against her side reassuringly, since that was all she could reach while chained up. Steeljaw, the same insane grin on his faceplate as when he threw both femmes into the ground, was crouched on the ground in front of the two femmes. He cocked his helm, audio receptors flicking around. Listening. Briefly Lightfall imagined how good it would feel to plant her ped right in his faceplate. The thought made her feel a little bit better.
"Oh, sisters," he began, a sympathetic note in his smooth voice. "You just don't understand. I want to help. I'm sorry I lied to you both, I wasn't sure if I could trust you." He sighed and Strongarm tensed, armor flattening against her frame. Lightfall could feel her EM field fill with resentment and mistrust and did her best to share positive vibes with the wary femme, though internally Lightfall was feeling much the same as Strongarm. "Yes, I am a Decepticon. But I've changed!"
Strongarm interrupted, her temper and her field flaring. "Into a botnapping Decepticon?!" the Enforcer cried indignantly.
Steeljaw turned away, seemingly ashamed. "I apologize for the things I've done, but I can never go back to Cybertron. I'd be locked up again, just the way you wanted to jail me before I could explain anything!"
"I was just - " At the same time Lightfall dug her knuckles into Strongarm's side to stop her from talking, Steeljaw turned back toward the femmes.
"But on this planet, I can begin anew, with fellow prisoners who feel the same way."
"Keyword: prisoners," Lightfall hissed suddenly as her dislike for this mech bubbled over into hatred. Her vocalizer crackled from the pain in her chassis and her stabilizer. Steeljaw bared his fangs in a sneer.
"If I recall correctly, you'd still be a prisoner if I hadn't freed you."
"Yes, well, thanks so much for that, my stabilizer really appreciates - " Lightfall's response was cut short by a rustling in the flora across the clearing. The shadowy frame of a Cybertronian formed in the treeline, a messy Decepticon insignia on its chassis.
Strongarm perked up at the sight of the fellow Cybertronian, field becoming hopeful. Lightfall relaxed, knowing that was a good thing. It meant that maybe they had a chance to get out of this predicament. Hopefully the Enforcer wouldn't try to shove her back into a cell before listening to her first.
Well. That sounded awfully familiar.
"I see you've found an Autobot," the hidden mech said to Steeljaw. With a confused purr the wolfcon turned around. "Can I get in on a little payback?"
Steeljaw stood amiably, opening his servos in welcome. While he was turned, Lightfall quietly busied herself with trying to find a way out of the chains keeping her down.
"Greetings, brother, I'm Steeljaw. And you are?" The shadowy mech faltered. Lightfall winced as she accidentally rattled the chains audibly, pausing for a moment to wait for the cover of conversation again. Primus damn it, she was gonna get out of these chains some way or she was gonna scream! Strongarm's friend - it was obvious by the emotions in her EM field that she knew the mech - recovered, clearing his throat.
"Oh, I'm, uh - I'm Grim...bee."
Raising his voice just a notch, Steeljaw took a step away from the femmes. "Well, Grimbee, I'm glad you are free. Why don't you step into the light and join us?" The edge in the wolfcon's voice betrayed his relaxed tone.
"Grimbee" deflected the offer with little more than a pause. "What, uh, what happened to your mark there, Steeljaw? ...Brother?"
"I destroyed it, and it's tracking mechanism. The Autobots mustn't capture me before I can prove that I've reformed and want to live here now, peacefully." A smirk curved its way into his voice. "As I'm sure you do too."
Strongarm gasped and Lightfall paused her struggle with the chains, looking up to make sure nothing was wrong. She followed Strongarm's optics and suppressed a gasp herself when she saw a little... well, she wasn't sure what it was, actually. Her processor told her it was a human, a member of the organic species that inhabited this planet, but Lightfall had to admit, it looked... tiny. And weak. What was it doing in the middle of so many Cybertronians? It could get crushed! That was not something Lightfall wanted to witness, not after the other stressful events of the cycle.
"Get out! Go!" Strongarm hissed at the human as it crept closer, a long tool in its tiny servos. Ignoring the femmes warning, the human lodged its tool in the chain and started pulling, weakening the links bit by bit.
Meanwhile, "Grimbee" tried his best to keep Steeljaw distracted, sputtering nonsense at this point.
"Me? No! No, I could never give up doing, you know, crime things. Besides, I hate the Autobots, especially know-it-all cadets, if you know what I mean."
Steeljaw played along with "Grimbee's" ploy, though even Lightfall could see he knew it was just that. "Oh, cadets can be wonderful, if used properly." Strongarm shuddered at the wolfcon's sick words, watching the human carefully. "So tell me more about yourself, Grimbee. How were you captured?"
"How was I captured? Well, uh, it was a dark and stormy lunar cycle."
At that exact moment Strongarm's human friend broke through the lock on the chain and it fell clattering to the ground. Steeljaw whipped around with a roar, claws at the ready, but before he could get to the two unprotected femmes the human put itself in front of them, waving its tool threateningly. Stupid, Lightfall chided. Are all humans this reckless?
Steeljaw bent down, perplexed. "What are you? Besides strange."
"Look who's talking!" it shouted back, taking off at a sprint between Steeljaw's legs.
"Grimbee" shouted from his spot in the shadows, "Don't go near him, brother!" Steeljaw growled, anger radiating carelessly off his EM field.
"Treachery!" he accused "Grimbee", swiping his claws through the air. "How like you Autobots." The wolfcon leaped toward "Grimbee" and the two met with a clash of metal.
Strongarm and Lightfall struggled with removing the chains, broken but still binding them, as "Grimbee" and Steeljaw fought in the opening of the clearing. The lithe red mech had no trouble evading the wolfcon's slower, heavy hits, and the more he missed the angrier Steeljaw became.
"Oh, thank Primus!" Lightfall cried as Strongarm pulled the last wrap of chain off of both their frames. The smaller femme scrambled away from the fight, nursing her injured stabilizer, and settled on the balls of her peds in the background, ready to take off in the other direction should she need to.
She watched "Grimbee" gesture Steeljaw toward him in a fighting stance. The wolfcon charged, snarling, but as he neared the red mech "Grimbee" rolled out of the way, leaving a perfect opportunity for Strongarm to land a hard kick to his faceplate. Lightfall shouted in victory, living vicariously through Strongarm's actions. "Grimbee" turned his helm, taking sudden notice of Lightfall.
"Uh, who - OW!" Steeljaw, now as pissed as he'd ever been, tackled the mech into the ground, claws piercing through his chassis armor and pinning him. Of course, as soon as the two mechs started rolling on the ground, the human appeared again, right in the path of the swiftly moving tangle of limbs and growls.
Lightfall glanced between the terrified human and the equally alarmed Strongarm, who was halfway across the clearing at that point. She would never make it to rescue the poor organic in time. Lightfall made up her processor, pushing off her peds in a sprint toward the frozen human. The femme scooped it up with her servo, sliding and narrowly missing Steeljaw and "Grimbee" as they passed. With the human safe in her grasp, Lightfall jogged on wobbly ped struts to Strongarm's side, feeling safer with the Enforcer near her. Besides, she just saved their little human friend, so that made her a friendly as well, right? She tried to think straight but Lightfall's processor wasn't keeping up with her thoughts well at all, and she was sure that in a few kliks her systems would shut down if she didn't get a break.
"Here," she said weakly, passing the organic to Strongarm's servos. The femme took it silently, optics never leaving the fight between the red mech and the wolfcon.
"Grimbee", after he pried Steeljaw out of his armor, let out a frustrated roar of his own. It was becoming clear that he was having issues with keeping the massive Decepticon at bay for so long. An opportunity arose, with Steeljaw's servos pushing the mech's back into the dirt, and the Autobot took the chance to plant both his peds in the 'Con's chassis and send him flying back, right into a thick tree trunk. He scrambled onto his peds, putting distance between himself and the groaning Steeljaw.
"Fragger!" "Grimbee" spit back as he approached the femmes, turning to watch over his shoulder as Steeljaw tried to stand. Taking one look at the group of bots, the wolfcon turned tail and ran, leaving nothing but a howl and the destruction he'd caused in his wake. "I have a bad feeling we're gonna see that 'Con again."
Strongarm scowled. "I hope so."
Lightfall whimpered. Immediately she hated herself for it, realizing just how weak she seemed next to these two bots, but at this point she couldn't even help it. Her spinal strut was on fire with every movement, and she tried to keep it straight and still but even that didn't bring any sort of relief. She kept her optics up and trained on "Grimbee's" faceplate, which might have been slightly unnerving for the mech but it was the only thing keeping Lightfall from collapsing in fatigue.
"Are you alright?" Strongarm asked, putting a servo on Lightfall's arm to steady her. It hurt, but it helped.
"Um, I don't know. My stabilizer..." She trailed off, vocalizer trembling. Strongarm's optics widened in realization and she gave the red mech a look.
"Sideswipe, we have to take her with us."
The mech's optics narrowed. "You, the actual rule book with peds, want to take an escapee back to our base? Wow, and here I thought you had no compassion for anyone but yourself."
"Don't push it, mech," she ground out between her denta. "She saved Russell's life. And mine, probably. The least we can do is let her live."
"Yeah, let me live," Lightfall interjected. Her processor searched for something helpful to say but all she could come up with was... well, nothing. At least not before she swayed in place, falling forward into Sideswipe's servos.
"Slag," the mech muttered, scooping Lightfall into his chassis and beginning to walk behind Strongarm. The injured femme maintained a state of half-consciousness for a few kliks, until Sideswipe's rocking motions finally lulled her into stasis. She allowed her systems to completely offline, if for no other reason than to get rid of the throbbing in her frame.
well. this was a little patchy and rough but it'll get deeper and smoother as it goes on. lightfall is gonna have a complex past, I think, so I'm gonna need some time before it's completely revealed, but hopefully it'll make things more interesting!
thanks for readin and I'll see you next time! I think I'm gonna plan to update on weekends just as a general sort of rule, depending on what kind of response I get for the first few parts, but we can play that by ear :-)
ALSO I know it gets annoying to read like straight script and dialogue from the show (at least it does to me) so I'm trying to change it up a bit, tweak some things here and there. the storyline will stay the same obviously but I've decided to take a little ~artistic license~ if u feel me. anyway.
farewell!
nw